Not necessarily. I live in California, so moving out to New York would be a pretty big decision. Also, though Western's program is new, the way they structure their program is quite innovative and emphasizes on different things than other schools. For example, they put a strong emphasis on low-vision rehabilitation and vision therapy, incorporating it into their standard curriculum. Most other schools only teach a couple courses on these subjects, and students that are interested in those specialties would have to actively seek out resources outside the normal curriculum. Students that absolutely know they want to do vision therapy may choose to go to Western because of this difference in programs.
It is a newly accredited school, but that doesn't mean their program will be any less comprehensive. Talking with current students of both schools, I think the most important factors of their decisions were location and the fit of the program, rather than the relative difficulty of actually getting in.
